Magical Girl with Demonic Time Magic-Chapter 126: Fragments

"..." I step out of my room, greeted by the pleasant smell of breakfast, and as soon as I appear in the kitchen, I see Setsuna in an apron cooking. Her dark circles strangely seem worse than before.

Lately, it feels like she’s been avoiding me, and I’m seriously thinking about following her because I need to address this issue, or I feel like our relationship is going to fall apart.

"Setsuna..."

"Oh, good morning, Ayane. I’m making breakfast for the two of us... I know I’ve been a bit distant lately, but I want to do better." She speaks while looking at me with a smile.

"Ah..." I’m taken aback by the sudden change. She hasn’t spoken to me this cheerfully in several days, and her gaze meets mine directly instead of avoiding me.

"By the way, you have beautiful wings. They suit you and your kindness." She says with a slight smile as I look back, noticing my wings are much larger now. I alternate my gaze between my wings and Setsuna, shocked and surprised.

"W-When?! Setsuna, this isn’t what it looks like!" I say nervously. I wanted to tell her only later, and I didn’t want her to find out like this, since I was still waiting to become a complete angel.

"Don’t worry, Ayane. I already knew you were turning into an angel. I think I’ve known for about two weeks now, and I understand why you hid it... you don’t need to explain... your wings are beautiful." She compliments me while placing various plates on the table.

"...W-Well... thank you... Did Septarion tell you?" I ask, sitting down at the table, confused by this. Besides, I don’t understand how my wings grew so much that they’re now visible and have torn part of my clothes.

I’m also kind of embarrassed about it. I still don’t know how to hide my wings, and now they’re on full display here, and it feels so natural that I didn’t even notice they were there.

’It’s strange that I didn’t notice they’d grown... and why did my power get such a huge boost?’ I’m absurdly stronger than I was yesterday, which is weird. I wish Septarion were here to answer my questions.

"Ayane, it was Septarion, yes... he told me recently... Anyway, I think we need to talk, right? Or you’ll probably decide to follow me at night." She says it like a joke, making me freeze.

"H-How did you know?... I’m sorry for being intrusive, I’m just worried... but I guess following you is wrong, right?" I say this even though I haven’t done anything. Despite her joking tone, it’s obvious she somehow knows what I was planning.

"You weren’t very subtle, Ayane, so it was easy to figure out... if you’re so curious, why don’t you just ask me?" She says the most obvious thing of all.

"...Where have you been going at night?" I decide to ask, just like she said.

"I’ve been going out to hunt monsters. I’ve been doing it for the last few nights because I’ve been stressed... and since I’m not sleeping, I need to keep myself occupied with something." She says this while I feel bad for not doing anything.

"Setsuna, is there anything I can do to help?"

"...How about giving me a massage every night? Recently, I haven’t been able to sleep. I’m plagued by terrible nightmares, and just a few seconds of everything going black is enough to have horrible visions."

"Of course!! I’ll do whatever it takes! Maybe I can get you some medicine too!" I say quickly as she places a plate in front of me for me to take the food.

"No need to rush, Ayane. It’s not like I’m going to die... besides, please don’t do things behind my back anymore..." She speaks with a tone that sounds like a plea, which is strange.

"O-Okay... I promise I won’t do things behind your back!! From now on, I’ll tell you everything... but promise me you’ll be honest when I ask you something, and promise you’ll stop pulling away?" When I say this, she stops as if she doesn’t want to promise.

"I... promise..." As soon as she promises, I grab a pancake from the table along with some toast and cheese bread, staring at her to gauge her honesty.

"Great! Then, Setsuna, why were you trying to keep me away?" I ask, expecting the promised honesty. This is what’s been bothering me most for the past few days, and I don’t understand why.

"..."

"...Ayane... do you remember yesterday?" She asks while I think about yesterday. It was completely normal, so I don’t see how that’s relevant.

"Yes, it was just a normal school day." When I say that, she looks relieved, but also extremely disappointed.

"If you don’t remember, it’s because you still lack angelic power, silly." She mentions my angel power, but when she calls me ’silly,’ I feel a slight headache and see a garden.

[You still lack a great deal of angelic power, you silly girl.]

I hear that phrase in a voice different from Setsuna’s, as the scene of the garden fragments. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

’W-What was that?’ I feel strange, and my mind seems foggy.

"Ayane, I still can’t tell you why I was trying to keep you away, but I can tell you in the future... I just ask that you wait a little while, okay?" Setsuna pulls me out of my confusion.

"Okay, I’ll decide to wait... but don’t you lie to me! You have to keep your promises! Or I’ll be super, hyper, mega furious!!" I say seriously, forgetting everything I saw just seconds ago. She lets out a sweet laugh at my response.

For a moment, it makes me think everything is back to normal as she starts to eat.

"I don’t want to make you furious, so I’ll definitely tell you. Anyway, we have to go to school, Ayane... but with your wings visible, I think it’s better for you to stay home today... Besides, I can’t wait for nightfall to try out a massage from you." She says with an excited gesture.

"I-I’ll do my best. And you’re right... I need to stay home and figure out some way to hide my wings! They were small before, so my clothes covered them, but now it’ll be difficult." I say, embarrassed.

"Setsuna, if you’re going out to hunt monsters at night, can I come with you to help?" I change the subject, trying to go help her hunt monsters.

"Before you say no, I have more power now! I can help!" With my current power, I feel like I can create barriers the size of entire city blocks and with surprising ease.

"I’m sorry, but no, you’re still not strong enough to help me... I’m hunting all kinds of monsters, and some are dangerous. You’ll get hurt." She says, dampening my spirits a little.

"...But we can spend more time together. How about helping me with my makeup? I’m terrible at it, and I need to cover these dark circles naturally." She says while taking a bite of bread.

"Of course! I’ll make you look beautiful!" I cling to this normal interaction with all my might before Setsuna changes her mind.